It looks all bright & sunny out there now, but cloud deck will very rapidly overspread area later today from the west & northwest & snow will follow in pretty quick succession this evening.

Snow will move into our far northwestern counties by 4 p.m., then overspread the area rapidly, exiting by 4 a.m. early Saturday morning.

Around 1 to as much as 2" of snow is likely for a good chunk of the area. 2-4" is possible over parts of central Illinois. We will watch to make sure that band does not migrate more to the east or northeast. If it does, it may be a last-minute decision to up totals as these fast-moving clippers tend to be quirky with where exactly their frontagenetical forcing sets up.

Southwest winds at 10-15 mph will blow the snow around some. Since it will be fluffy & dry (25:1 ratio), it will be able to blow & drift better than your typical 10:1 snow.

Slick roads will develop in our area.

Temperatures will actually rise tonight with the snow to 18-24, then drop to 8-15 late.

Another wave of snow will pass Saturday evening-night in the 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. time frame.

Around 1" to as much as 2" of snowfall is possible with this system.

Winds will run 10-15 mph from the west, resulting in a bit of blowing & drifting.

Slick roads will re-develop in our area.

Highs Saturday be steady in the teens.

At this point, it is looking like the Sunday evening wave of snow will stay south of the area, but we will need to monitor it. I keep at least a few flurries & snow showers in the forecast for Sunday afternoon-evening to account for the uncertainty.

Highs Sunday will run 22-26 after 14-18 in the morning.

A strong clipper system will bring 40 mph gusts & snow, followed by ice, then brief rain/ice, followed by snow & brutal Arctic air roaring in Monday.

A band of heavy +6" snow will occur with the system, it is just unclear exactly where that will set up. At this point, such a band is trending north & northeast of the area.

We may still get accumulation from this storm at first & at the end, but there may be ice & rain/ice in the middle as temperatures warm into the 30s.

This will all occur Monday morning to Monday night.

Flash freezing could occur Monday evening-night as slush & water on roadways freezes very rapidly as Arctic air rushes in. Between 4 p.m. & 8 p.m., the temperature could drop 25 degrees (from 36 to 11). Also, the snow that falls in the cold air will blow & drift a lot! Winds will be howling at 25 mph with gusts to 40 mph.

Even the snow that falls at the onset will flow & drift about with south-southeast winds at 20-30 mph.

GFS Ensembles for Monday:

Mean:

Wind chills of -45 to -40 with actual air temperatures as low as -23 are still possible Wednesday to Thursday of next week.

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